First European Survey on Language Competences - The positive effect of ancient languages learned

The European Survey on Language Competences is a major initiative by the European Commission to support the development of language learning policies across Europe. Deutsch. Español. Français. Italiano.
Final Report 
Findings from the first European Survey on Language Competences are presented in the Final Report and its methodology is described in the Technical Report. Final Report. Technical Report. Other Documents and Reports.
The ancient Languages in the European Survey on Language Competences
Concerning ancient languages, there are eight educational systems where none or virtually none are learned: Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Estonia, Malta and Poland. However, in the German and French Communities of Belgium and in Greece more than a quarter of students report studying at least one ancient language. p.52
The index ‘Number of ancient languages learned’ represents the number of ancient languages that students reported having learned in primary and/or secondary education. For five educational systems this index has no variance (none of the students in the research population in these educational systems reported that they learned ancient languages). These educational systems are Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden. This means that this index has been included in the regressions for ten educational systems only. For the majority of educational systems, languages and skills, the effect of ‘Number of ancient languages learned’ is positive, although some negative effects have been found as well. Overall, more ancient languages learned is related to a higher score on the language tests. Educational systems in which a substantial proportion of the students have learned at least one ancient language are Greece, the three communities of Belgium, France, Spain and the Netherlands. p.75
The number of ancient languages learned is represented in Table 21. The rows present the proportions for the number of ancient languages learned in primary and/or secondary education by students of each target language per educational system. p.160
Table 21 shows educational systems in which no ancient languages are learned (Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden) or virtually none (Estonia, Malta and Poland) by the student population of the ESLC. We also find educational systems in which a substantial proportion of the students reported they learned at least one ancient language. In one educational system, Greece, 80% of the students report that they study and/or have studied at least one ancient language. This reflects the fact that the majority of Greek students have learned or are learning ancient Greek in school. There is a slight tendency across educational systems for students of the second target language to have studied more ancient languages than students of the first target language. p.161